This reminds me of the workshop tool scavenger hunt from Scope of Work. Even as an adult I still encounter new machines and tools that I've never heard of... and it's /fascinating/ to learn there are machines and tools to do such specific things!
I enjoy the "what does this thing do" of farm implements.
There are times when I'm masked (ie: 3M respirator) and gloved at work for 10+ hours at a time. I wonder if speech recognition would be possible without breaking the face seal during silent speech. This could be beneficial for other types of work in hazardous environments.
(My current solution is to tear the fingertip off my offhand glove so I can unlock and use my device....)
It sounds like you're describing sites with a userbase that displays unexpected behaviors compared to expectations from visitors. A business would call this institutional knowledge and company culture. In a friends group it would be called group dynamics.
2chan, 4chan, and similar seem to be a perfect example. Users rapidly creating original content, riffing on previous posts, and introducing new content is like a factory that accidentally creates a viral meme through trial and error.
What are you trying to understand by asking this question?
I am here because it feels like the last place to enjoy insightful discussion among a diverse group of strangers.
I really enjoy when someone fresh out of college asks a question and a retiree engineer/technician/manager joins the discussion with personal knowledge. The insight and experience here, pending the AI slop takeover, is what you usually find only on very topic-specific forums.
The text-only formatting, culture of contributing to the conversation, and simplicity (read: not shiny and new), hopefully continue to keep out the cesspool of other internet at bay as long as possible.
When I write, it comes out like this. Pulling your attention to and fro across a scene to construct "brain pictures", letting your imagination fill in the gaps as the fragments become a whole.
The mention of Megalosaurus was jarring. My imagination placed this within a gloomy late-Victorian period and the mention of giant lizard caused mental association to very unrelated content for the rest of paragraph. I think a Wooly Mammoth waddling up the hill would make for a better picture.
Bleak House was first serialized in 1852. The famous Crystal Palace Dinosaurs were commissioned in 1852 and first shown to the public in 1854. The timing lines up with dinosaurs being something new and exciting to the readers.
Horse blinkers are things that restrict a horse's field of vision to directly in front of it so it's less likely to get startled or distracted. Readers would also have been familiar with them, because they were commonly used with horses pulling carriages.
In Toronto regulations were put in place required coordinating with Police, Fire, Ambulance, and submitting applications to use ANY private space for an intended "rave party".
The spontaneity of gathering your friends to dance on the beach, use a private warehouse after hours, or host a house party that went past 2AM, was now risking police showing up and handing out fines.
Regulation is the fastest way to kill anything unique and valuable.
There were still underground events held in parks and other unofficial spaces after the regulations came in; I attended a number of small events by Moonshadow and others. Black Light Activists kept going with a regular dose of psytrance, and the monthly Darkrave event at the Big Bop continued until 2010.
Long gone are the exceptional raves like the ones held at the Ontario Science Centre which had staff manning the displays from 10pm until we were kicked out via the loading docks at 6am on Sunday morning... There's nothing quite like being 1 of ~6000 people on astroturf at a hanger in the Downsview airport watching the sun coming up at 4-5am on a warm summer night to a great morning trance set!
Whether or not I totally agree with your comment, I do tend to agree that there's been a general trend towards greater oversight over a lot of activities in a lot of contexts. I have some visibility into activities at a couple of universities and there is certainly not the degree of free rein as when I went to school.
The protest/rally at Toronto City Hall in 2000 was a one-of-a-kind event which united ravers across the city. Organizers set up a mobile stage with sound and lights, had DJ lineup, speeches by public figures (including Olivia Chow), and 10k+ ravers.
I enjoy the "what does this thing do" of farm implements.
[Scopeofwork.net]